Dodgers @ Dbacks June 13, 2016: #GreinkeMonday

It was only a matter of time before the Dodgers wound up facing Zack Greinke. That day is now here, and while I can’t speak for other Dodger fans on this one…this is gonna be tough for me to watch. I still miss him a lot, in large part because of things like this:

And this:

And this:

Fare thee well, sweet prince.

Dodgers
Dbacks
6:40 p.m. PT
Arizona
2B
Utley
2B
Segura
SS
Seager
3B
Lamb
3B
Turner
1B
Goldschmidt
1B
González
CF
Peralta
RF
Thompson
C
Castillo
CF
Pederson
LF
O’Brien
C
Grandal
RF
Tomás
LF
Van Slyke
P
Greinke (R)
P
Bolsinger (R)
SS
Ahmed

Of course, it doesn’t help matters that Greinke has been pretty solid for Arizona this season. This is in spite of the fact that he lasted just four innings in his Diamondbacks debut, allowing seven runs on nine hits (three home runs) and a walk while striking out only two.

Greinke seems to have turned this around since then, though. He’s gone at least six innings in every other start he’s made. In nine of those 12 games, he’s given up three runs or fewer, bringing his season ERA down to 3.84 (3.33 FIP). He’s struck out 71, while walking 15. His last time out vs. Tampa Bay was his best start of the season so far, as he delivered a complete-game, three-hit shutout (2 K, 2 BB).

Mike Bolsinger is on the mound for the Dodgers, making his fifth start of the season. Bolsinger hasn’t been great to this point. His ERA of 5.75 is nearly identical to his FIP of 5.77. He’s been bitten by the home run bug, and badly — he’s given up at least one dinger in each of his starts so far (5 HR allowed in 20 and 1/3 IP), good for a HR/9 of 2.21. In his defense, his HR/FB rate is an absurdly high 22.7%, which will surely decrease if he remains in the rotation for any length of time. That said, Chase Field has seen the third most home runs of any MLB stadium so far this year, so Bolsinger has that to contend with tonight.

The fourth-place Diamondbacks are 28-37 overall, but they’re 9-4 in Greinke’s starts. Pair that with a Dodgers offense that’s been floundering, and it’s a little difficult to feel optimistic heading into this matchup.

In other Dodger news, Carl Crawford was officially released today:

There was also this update on Andre Ethier:

There was also, uh, this:

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About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.